A Carnival Aboard HMS Belfast

The HMS Belfast is an impressive sight, moored on the Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. But it's now a little more celebratory thanks to some interventions by artist Hew Locke.

The Belfast's last international voyage was in 1962 to Trinidad; it arrived in June but Locke imagines a world where it arrived a few months earlier in time for Carnival. Caught up in the momentum of this celebratory occasion the interior of the Belfast has been transformed into a more joyous space.

The chef toiling away in the kitchen filleting a fish now wears a flamboyant mask and the crewmen playing cards sport extravagant hats featuring multiple skulls. Locke has tried to stay true to the time and location, so all the hats are made with items that would have been found on the ships, so in some cases lengths of rope have been co-opted into creating rather rudimentary face masks.

This display extends throughout five levels of the ship from down in the shell room up to the Captain's cabin near the bridge, even the men in the punishment cells are in on the festivities.

There's a darker side to Locke's work too, a black scale model of the Belfast represents the ship of death as it hangs above a patient on the operating table and some of the masks look particularly sinister.

The HMS Belfast is fascinating to explore at any time, but this installation has just made it all the more interesting and fun.